Saturday, January 30, 2010
Blair, Bush, And the Farce that is Chilcot Inquiry
Iraq War and Prayer Sessions
The smarmy Mr. Blair talked his way through soft-balls lobbed at him by members of the Chilcot Inquiry on January 29th.
Watching him reminded me of reports that our former president, G.W. Bush and Tony Blair were users of Colgate toothpaste. Good for Colgate-Palmolive; probably boosted the sale. It was also reported that Blair -- described by some as Bush's poodle -- and Bush prayed together. Easy to imagine them doing so. Bush, a born-again Christian, who did his utmost to destroy the barrier between church and state during eight years as president, said he was told by god to go to war.
From June 26, 2003, edition of The Haaretz: - Source: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0630-04.htm
According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.
And Blair, who converted to Catholicism after the end of of his term as prime minister of the United Kingdom, also talks in terms of divine guidance. Piety oozes out of him.
"The Men Who Stare At Goats", the delightful, spoofy novel about the CIA by Jon Ronson contains the following about G.W. Bush and presidentialprayerteam.org (it exists).
- "Pray for the strong relationship between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. Pray that the President will continue to be guided by the Lord in his deliberation with the U.K."
Last night, reading the book after Mr. Blair's appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry, I thought ah, that explains it!. Mr. Blair certainly joined wholeheartedly in Bush's war. It would appear that members of the Chilcot Committee responded too. This ought to silence those who question the power of prayers. Quite useful to have a god available to support military actions against nations that displease us, have natural resources that we need, or are in a strategic geographical location -- toss a coin.
Jon Ronson's book has been made into a movie with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, and Kevin Spacey in the leading roles. Should be fun to watch.
